Some Precious Handmade Baby Shower Gifts

You don't
have to refuse an invitation to your friend's baby shower just because
you're short of funds. You can make your own handmade baby shower
gifts for your expectant friend, and don't need to be embarrassed
to do so. And thankfully, you don't need to know any kind of handwork,
either, if you're worried about that.

First off, the simplest handmade baby shower gifts are vouchers
or coupons that you can give to the expectant mom. Either put the
vouchers in a prettily decorated jar and have them all rolled up
so that they can be surprises for her. You could put – I owe
you an hour of babysitting time, I owe you an hour of housekeeping
help, I owe you help in the kitchen this weekend... and so on. Just
be sure that you can do all that you put down on the coupons!

You could also create a little voucher book with tear-out stubs
when the time comes to claim your promise. Decorate the little book
in the colors of the baby shower and put a title on the book –
something witty like “Time Out!” Don't feel embarrassed
about giving a gift like this, because you're giving the mommy-to-be
very precious handmade baby shower gifts: some time to rest or to
be alone.

If you're attending a pampering spa, you have so many choices for
handmade baby shower gifts. A very easy gift to make is a salt scrub
or a sugar scrub. For a salt scrub, you need fine sea salt or just
plain iodized salt. For every cup of sea salt, put in a tablespoon
or so of honey for its softening properties, and add up to half
a cup of plain cooking oil (olive or sunflower are very good options)
and mix it all up.

A sugar scrub starts off with a cup of half soft brown sugar and
half refined white sugar. Mix them both together with up to a cup
of oil. You can scent this with cinnamon for a really sweet, spicy
smell, and also with some real vanilla extract. Don't use artificial
vanilla extract with this – it stings! If you want it to be
a warming scrub, add a tablespoon of dried, powdered ginger to the
sugars. The smell should remind you of a really spice gingerbread.
Yum!

Package the bath products in a pretty plastic container. It's preferable
not to use any glass containers for any product going into a bathroom
since it could shatter and cause a serious accident. If you're giving
a set of the products, tie them all in together with a pretty cover
of fabric and matching ribbons for the bows. Either put them together
in a prettily decorated bag or a sweet hat box as memorable, pampering
handmade baby shower gifts.

You could create a beautiful scrapbook for the baby with little
more than a sheaf of construction paper in the color scheme of the
baby shower. Decorate the inside with drawings and put in headings
like “My New Favorite Foods,” “Places I Love to
Play,” and “Toys I Love Chewing On.” Leave spaces
for pictures and written notes that the mom can put in as baby gets
older. You can have the papers book bound or simply put them in
a 3-ring binder. Decorate the cover with more drawings, scrapbook
scraps, and maybe little glittery sequins or flat beads.

There is actually no end to the handmade baby shower gifts you
can make – the only thing limiting you is your imagination!